


A month before goodbye

by contrapposto_stance



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight and Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, Bickering, Developing Relationship, Did someone say homoeroticism?, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fighting, Fluff, Healthy dose of pain, Hurt/Comfort, Lumity, No Smut, Prequel, Sibling AU, Sibling au by @swiss.sides on ig, Slow Burn, Still on boiling isles, complicated relationship, lots of swearing, some smooch smooches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29293839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/contrapposto_stance/pseuds/contrapposto_stance
Summary: A look into how Lucía and Amelia’s relationship developed before the events of “Loving you is a good problem to have.”Spoiler alert: it wasn’t easy-Can be read as a stand alone.(Sibling au so Lucía is beta Luz and Amelia is beta Amity)
Relationships: Amelia Blight/Lucia Noceda, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Beta Amity Blight/Beta Luz Blight
Comments: 15
Kudos: 117





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’m back with the promised prequel. Also I lied again. I’m drawing this out into its own thing so buckle up and enjoy the ride ‘cause this is gonna be a lot. 
> 
> You can read this by itself or you can read it before the original fic but idk I think it’s more valuable to read it after. It sure is interesting.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first encounter.

“Come _on_ , Lucía! We’re gonna be late for our first day!” 

The older sister grabbed the pillow under her head and covered her face with it, groaning loudly. 

“Leave me alone,” she mumbled into the pillow she hoped would just hurry up and suffocate her already. 

A few seconds of silence passed when she heard the small taps of Luz’s shoes on the wooden floor approach her. Not even bothering to give her a fair warning first, her sister pried the soft barrier off of her face, letting the harsh daylight burn itself into Lucía’s sleepy eyes. 

“You are _not_ making us late on the first day! Aren’t you excited to learn more magic?” Luz tried pleading with her and roughly threw her red beanie onto her chest. 

In truth, Lucía was very much not excited about learning magic. In fact, she hated that Luz had gotten Eda to enroll them (both of them for some reason) into Hexide without talking to her first. Why would she ever want to go to school when school back home was such a nightmare? All the kids at home ever did was make Luz feel terrible and the ones that didn’t never even tried to stand up for her. Lucía tried her best to help, but she always ended up getting Luz in more trouble since she wasn’t the most...diplomatic. 

And as for Lucía’s own school experience? Well, there wasn't much of an experience to talk about. She did the bare minimum, had terrible grades, got in trouble all the time, and was even known to get herself in actual fights after school. 

Middle school kids were not great to her, similar to Luz but worse in a lot of ways. Her grades naturally started to slip, and they never did manage to go back up. She stopped turning things in, stopped trying as hard, stopped caring. 

That’s probably why she was so worried about Luz going to Hexide. She didn’t want her to end up like she did. 

When she wasn’t being a complete disappointment and spending lunches carving her name into empty bathroom stalls, she was helping take care of Luz while her mom was at work, even getting a job at a local Italian restaurant washing dishes and mopping floors. It didn’t pay a lot, but the owners didn’t exactly trust Lucía enough to be an actual waiter or cashier. The cleaning gig was honestly just given to her out of pity since the owners knew her situation and her issues in the classroom.

She knew her outburst at school only added to her mother’s stress (it was the topic of most of their fights), but she couldn’t help it. School, everything about it, made her so _angry_. Why should she have to spend hours at that place everyday when she could be using her time to be more help at home? Or actually work a job with more hours and higher pay? 

So, no, Lucía wasn’t excited about their first day at Hexide. But, she reminded herself, there was no way she was going to send her sister out there alone, because what if the kids here were just as cruel? 

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” she replied sarcastically, “I’ll be there in a sec.” 

Luz sighed her annoyance and finally left the room to go downstairs. Lucía forced herself up and into the uniform that _almost_ made her reconsider going at all. She rolled her sleeves up and dragged herself downstairs, and out the door to where Luz and Eda were waiting for her outside. 

“Welcome back to the world of the living,” Eda teased, stretching her hand to offer Lucía Owlbert. 

“What?!” Luz objected suddenly while Lucía lazily accepted the staff, “How come she gets to fly Owlbert? You haven’t let me fly him yet!” 

When Lucía swung a leg over it, Eda drew a circle in the air that lifted the pouting kid onto the staff, snuggly in front of her sister.

“Well, she’s already ridden him before, so I figured there wasn’t much use baneing her from it anymore,” she said, raising a knowing eyebrow at Lucía. 

The accusation made Luz gasp in surprise and turn around to stare at her with a mixture of jealousy and confusion. 

Lucía laughed nervously. So maybe Eda had caught her a couple times sneaking out...who could blame her? Flying was so much fun and sometimes she needed to be alone. 

“Ha...yeah, well anyways we gotta go, seeya!” She hastily waved to the Owl Lady and started flying before Luz had time to interrogate her more on the subject. 

After all, they couldn’t be late on the first day.

* * *

Another day at Hexide. _Ugh_. 

Amelia walked through the hallways like she owned the place because, well, she basically did.

No one messed with her, just the way she liked it. 

It wasn’t so much that she couldn’t make friends, it was more that she didn’t want to make friends. To her, the prospect of a genuine friendship wasn’t appealing enough to give up her ferocity and anarchy. Everything about her radiated “stay away”: her lethal gaze, her wild hair, and probably mostly the black piercing she had given herself on her ears. It sure pissed the hell out of her mom, so it was safe to say that Amelia had no regrets. 

Hexide, on the other hand, she regretted going to every day. It was boring and filled with people telling her what to do. Why should she listen to them? She was just fine on her own. That was what set her apart from the rest of her siblings. Amity was always practically killing herself over her assignments, perpetually pushing herself way too far. Ed and Em kept their antics out of the watchful eye of their dictator parents, while still managing to keep their grades up and image spotless. Amelia, happened to be a little different.

She went out looking for trouble often, just like the twins, however, she normally didn’t bother concerning herself over being caught. 

Sometimes being caught was exactly the point. It all depended on the circumstances and Amelia’s end game. 

Her parents were suffocating, and for a time, Amelia met their expectation to the same vain that Amity does now, but after years and years of panic attacks and breakdowns, Amelia realized something. 

They didn’t own her. 

They didn’t own the mind she used to tirelessly study night after night to keep herself at the top of her class, they didn’t own the body she used to train for hours on end with Lilith as her former student, and they most _certainly_ didn’t own her personality.

So with that liberating realization, Amelia decided “fuck them.” From then on, Amelia stopped pouring all of her energy into earning their approval and only kept her grades up enough to get them somewhat off her back. Other than that she starting doing whatever the fuck she felt liked. If class was boring, she’d leave. If she felt like sneaking out of her house, she would. If someone mildly inconvenienced her, she’d lash out. 

Like she did just then, when her thoughts came to a halting stop and she was sent crashing down to the floor. 

“Shit! My bad! Here, let me help you with that,” the person seemed to be remorseful, clumsily apologizing and rushing to pick up her books, but to Amelia that mattered very little. She could feel her blood start to boil as she looked down at the pile of books scattered on the ground, and she felt an ear twitch with anger. 

When she finally looked up to identify her antagonizer, she hesitated for a moment. 

Brown eyes, dark hair. 

_She’s cute_ , Amelia thought to herself.

Shame. 

“Can you watch where the fuck you’re going next time?!” She yelled, ignoring her books and standing up to give her an edge. 

That seemed to surprise the girl. Her eyes widened like she hadn’t expected such a furious response, but she recovered quickly. Unlike anyone else in the entire school, this one’s eyes darkened, and she stood up tall and straight to burrow her dark eyes into Amelia’s golden ones. She was taller than the witch, and her eyes somehow matched the intensity of her own. All around them, the school seemed to hush down, all curious about who the new girl was and why the fuck she thought it was a good idea to go toe to toe with _Amelia Blight_. 

“You have a pair of eyes. Why don’t _you_ start watching where you’re going,” she replied with a quiet anger that even rivaled her own. She could hear their audience gasp. 

Amelia’s eyes caught the sight of the girl’s ears—round. She must have been that human girl she had heard Amity talking about. If she remembered correctly, she was the other human's older sister. 

She was one ballsy human. 

Instead of responding immediately, she took a step towards the stubborn classmate and, even in her shortness, held her chin high and stared her down like she was a few seconds from starting something physical. 

Or perhaps ‘like’ was a bit of a misleading term because she, without much thought for what consequences she could occur, lifted her clenched fists from her sides and gave the other a hard, forceful push to the chest. 

The girl stumbled backwards a bit, appearing shocked again that Amelia had actually put her hands on her. Her eyes were wide, and, for a beat, Amelia reveled in the way her jaw dropped ever so slightly. It was funny, yes, but it was also a mesmerizing mixture of anger and surprise—contempt and startle. No one at Hexide ever reacted that way towards her. Her behavior was feared—expected—but this student...she had _no_ idea what she was getting herself into. 

Just like before her shock didn’t last long. She scoffed and rolled her sleeves even further up her arms and then started to stomp her way to Hexide’s resident problem child. 

“Wanna try that again?” the girl breathed once she reached her. They were closer this time around. Nose to nose. But neither dared back down now, especially not Amelia. She held her ground too, glaring up at her, unfazed by her reaction because _she_ was in control—not her. 

They didn’t break eye contact when Amelia raised her right hand. How far exactly could she push the girl before she snapped? Before she fought back? She smirked at the human girl before conjuring a hot flame in her hand, raising it up higher so the girl could feel its heat on her face. 

The crowd gasped again. 

Their audience had grown larger, but the other didn’t take her eyes off of Amelia’s. She just stood there, unflinching, like a pillar of stone or an ancient statue. It was unusual. 

Who did this human think she was? 

Amelia’s eyes moved down her body slowly, carefully, before going back up in the same manner until she locked eyes with her again.

_Hm._

_She’s really cute._

With her free hand, she pressed her pointer finger into the taller one’s chest. The action made the other quickly reach up and grasp the wrist of her hand in defense, still staring daggers at her. 

Amelia looked down at the hand on her wrist before looking back up again with a newly found amusement. 

She chuckled. 

“Anytime, any day.” 

The girl scoffed, but before she could say anything else, the school bell screamed and the crowd dissipated to their classes. Amelia would have been more than happy to settle their dispute right then and there, but she realized they weren’t alone in the hallway. Someone was staring them down. 

“Amelia Blight,” Principal Bump sighed and turned to look at the human, “Lucía Noceda.”

So that was her name. _Noceda_. 

“It’s only your first day and you’re already getting into fights,” he complained, “And _you_ Miss Blight, this is your third incident this week. Unbelievable!”

In truth, she should probably tone things down a little before she actually got expelled, but where was the fun in that? 

Neither of them answered him, although Amelia glanced at Lucía when she felt her finally release her wrist from her grasp. She didn’t look like she cared that much either.

Bump stared at each of the girls again, probably trying to figure out the reason they insisted on making his life way harder than it needed to be, but he didn’t seem to find an answer since he just sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“I swear you girls take a hundred years off my life span every day. You’re lucky the Inspector is already out of commission from another incident. Detention track, both of you,” he said, waving them off to go to class and leaving them alone again in the middle of the hallway. 

They glared at each other again. 

This time, it was Lucía that was the one to flash her teeth, eyes shining with a newfound mischief and cockiness. It was a complete one-eighty from the stoic rage she exhibited earlier. How charming. 

“See ya there, _Blight_.”

* * *

Detention was a bore like it always was. 

Amelia took her usual seat at the back of the classroom and sifted through her bag for a book to read. It was about illusion magic (she’d gotten some inspiration from a particularly funny prank the twins pulled on their baby sister). Normally, she’d refrain from reading these types of books while in the public eye, but she figured that as long as she stayed in the back, no one would notice. Or at least no one would notice long enough for her to sneak out because fuck detention. 

Ten minutes or so ticked by when the other offender walked in casually. The teacher scolded her for being late, which she responded with an exaggerated shrug and a half baked excuse about getting lost, and she dismissed her away to take a seat. 

Like they had been doing _oh so often_ , they made eye contact again as Lucía walked to a seat in the middle of the room. They peered at each other analytically, like they were studying each other or sizing the other up. Her hands were shoved in her jacket pockets and her head still had that beanie she wore even with the school issued uniform. She must have changed clothes just like Amelia had before coming there. 

When the human girl finally sat down, she immediately slumped in her seat and started fidgeting. First it was just tapping a finger while staring at the clock, then it turned into spinning the ring on her finger on the table—loudly slapping a hand over it before the motion slowed so she could stop it herself. 

It was incredibly annoying, but Amelia noticed something else. She noticed her eyes flickering from the clock, to the teacher, to the window. Contrary to what Lucía probably believed, her subtle glances did little to hide the intentions that were rattling around under that beanie. She knew the intentions because Amelia had the same ones, but there was no way she was going to ruin her escape plan. _No way_. 

“Excuse me,” Amelia leaned forward on her desk to get the supervisor’s attention, “I was supposed to fly my little sister home today. Can you check if she’s waiting for me outside and tell her to wait for me?”

Her ‘polite voice’ was a little rusty, but in situations like these it came in handy. 

The teacher poked her face from behind the book she was reading and gave her a look full of skepticism. And she wasn’t the only one questioning the validity of Amelia’s comment because Lucía twisted in her seat to raise an eyebrow at her. Clearly, she had a lot to learn. 

“My parents will be very upset if you make me leave her to walk home by herself. Especially with the new...crowd attending school nowadays.”

She added that last part for good measure just in case the teacher didn’t bite for the power trip. It was well worth it anyway because it made said member of the ‘new crowd’ huff in offense and clench her fist. Whether the response was from the off handed insult or from pulling the ‘hey my parents can ruin your life’ card was unclear. 

What? Her parents were the worst, but what the hell was she supposed to do about it? What was the point of being their daughter if she couldn’t use their name to get what she wanted from time to time? It’s the least they could do. Call it compensation.

Instead of trying to argue with Amelia (who was _very_ adept in the skill), she just let out a defeated sigh and stood up to walk towards the exit, saying from over her shoulder, “We wouldn’t want that. I’ll be right back then.” 

As soon as the door clicked shut, Amelia got up from her desk and the mental timer in her head started ticking right on cue. 

She’d only have have about five minutes to get the fuck out of dodge. 

“What was that about?” Lucía asked curiously with only a hint of underlying resentment. 

Amelia ignored her when the human stood up to confront her directly because she was busy concentration. She had been practicing this spell for a couple of weeks after school. If it worked, it would be _so_ badass. 

She took a deep breath and drew a small circle in the air above her empty seat. The action caused a hazy shape to start to form, a mix of green and pink, but nothing solid. 

“Ugh!” she exclaimed in frustration. What was she doing wrong? And why was that dumb human just staring at her! 

Just when she absolutely needed anything _but_ commentary, the new student started to laugh. 

“What’s wrong? Need authorization from mommy and daddy for that spell? Or, wait, maybe you need help from someone from the ‘new crowd,” her voice dripped with sarcasm, although with not as much venom as Amelia would’ve delivered it with.

“Shut up! She’ll be back any minute! I can’t concentrate with your annoying voice,” she snapped back, drawing another circle in the air. This time a translucent clone of herself appeared in the chair. No—it wasn’t good enough! It wouldn’t work.

When she was about to attempt the spell again, she realized that Lucía hadn’t said anything to respond to her. She looked to the side, and saw her scribbling on a piece of paper, appearing to be deep in thought while her tongue peaked out the side of her mouth. Whatever she wrote, she didn’t appear satisfied because she crumpled it up and threw it on the floor just to take out another slip to replace it. Amelia was going to comment on the ridiculous display, but Lucía snapped her head back and waved her hand for her to do the spell again. 

“Fuck! Do it again! Before she comes back!”

Amelia wanted to laugh at the audacity. Like she’d ever dream of listening to anything she had to say. But her internal clock kept ticking. At best, they had a minute left. 

So she pushed her pride aside for the sake of the con, like any good criminal would. 

One last time, Amelia drew a circle in the air. The figure had a lot more body to it than last time, but it still wouldn’t hold. She’d have to do more reading into that spell, evidently. Hoping the other witch would have a solution, she looked over to see what she was up to. 

Lucía had watched Amelia very closely, and for the life of her, Amelia had no idea why. But she had no time to ponder when she practically saw a lightbulb light up on top of the human’s head, and she scribbled something down on the slip—then another one. 

_Tik. Tik. Tik._

Any second and the teacher would be back. 

As quick as she could, Lucía ran over to Amelia’s desk and placed the paper on her seat. With a quick tap, the paper glew and morphed into a perfect clone of Amelia reading a book. When she saw it worked, Lucía ran over to her own desk, repeating the same process so there was a copy of herself—feet propped up on the desk playing with some sort of fire making device. 

“How…” Amelia’s jaw dropped in amazement. How the fucking hell did she do that?? 

“Ask me later! Where do we go??” 

Fuck. That’s right. They needed to escape. 

“Just come with me!” she yelled at her angrily, even though her mood was more derived from the time crunch than the strange girl she’d met that day. 

Grabbing her wrist tightly in her hand, Amelia dragged Lucía to the front of the room. She took a piece of chalk and drew a square and key hole, pressing the chalk into the center of it, causing it to glow and become a small door. 

“Woah…” Lucía whispered under her breath. 

The door knob started to jiggle. 

“Get in!” Amelia shoved the girl through the door and tumbled in after her. 

They landed very ungracefully on the other side of the secret door just in time before the teacher caught them. The magic should be able to last long enough for them to get away from the school, at least that was an assumption Amelia made since she had never seen magic cast like that. 

“Where are we…” Lucía asked looking around the room and straightening her shirt. 

Amelia got up too, dusting off what little dirt got on her pink dress, and observed the other’s evident marvel. It was annoying...but also endearing in like a really dumb stupid way? 

Ugh, she’d been spending way too much time around Mittens. 

“Just some secret room the detention kids cracked up.” 

Lucía nodded in response and took out another slip of paper. She held it in the palm of her hand and gave it a tap, just like how she did earlier, only this time it turned into a glowing ball of light so she could see better. 

“What kind of magic was that? I’ve never seen it before,” she asked. And it was true. Not that she was a nerd or anything, but she liked to read. Cool people can read. 

Lucía let out a laugh, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” 

Was she fucking kidding? 

The simple comment ignited Amelia’s hatred all over again, and she could feel her hand start to heat up. What a wonderful reminder of all the reasons she should be mad at that impossibly idiotic human. 

She scoffed, “What are you doing here anyway? You weren’t supposed to hijack my escape plan. Get your fucking own!” 

The human didn’t respond right away, instead fishing a small box from her pocket. She pulled out what looked like a roll of paper and put it between her lips. 

“Hey, you should be thanking me. I’m the only reason we made it outta there,” she mumbled with the roll sticking out the side of her mouth, “Anyway, can I get a light? I haven't learned that spell yet.” 

Aside from the fact Amelia had no idea what her question meant, the nerve to ask anything of her in the first place was laughable—the request being made even more preposterous considering the witch had seen the human but a minute ago with that odd fire device! She could feel herself slowly losing her cool, a feeling that felt foreign and wrong, and the way the other stood in front of her, expectedly waiting, made her more irritated with each passing second. 

How could one person manage to find all of her buttons and just push every single one?

Throwing all her common sense out the window and reacting on sheer impulse, Amelia grabbed the front of Lucía’s jacket and jerked her down to her eye level. She made sure she tugged hard enough to hurt and give the nuisance some well deserved whiplashed. Antagonizing each other with menacing stares and harsh words wasn’t enough anymore. 

“I swear to Titan, Noceda, I’ll end your life. Right here, right now. Do _not_ test me,” she growled coldly, doing her best to convey the severity of the threat in her tone. 

Lucía, on the other hand, initially reacted in slight surprise from being manhandled again, but the shock faded from her face, instead replaced with an analytic face—eyes darting back and forth across Amelia’s. What she was looking for, Amelia had no idea, but when the girl smirked and spat that roll of paper in her face, she was too livid to care. The oldest Noceda’s hyena laughter had no hope to be heard over the swirling vortex of emotions going through Amelia’s head. 

But, of course, it was just one emotion. 

And not so much an emotion as it was an idea:

 _Murder_.

All around her, she felt an energy building, causing her hair to start to stand and her hands start to involuntarily glow pink with the promise of hot flames. Lucía tripped backwards, and her eyes widened at the sight. 

“Oh shit—wait that’s not fair!”

FWOOSH!

Lucía just narrowly dodged the flame Amelia casted at her. When she looked down to check if her jacket got singed, Amelia casted another fiery spell. 

This time, it caught her slightly on her shoulder, and she winced in pain. 

“OW! You actually hit me, fuck!” She was clutching her injured shoulder and was clearly very surprised Amelia had pushed their fight that far so quickly. 

“What? Didn’t you ask for a light?” 

It was time to get back into her old routine. No more random students provoking her, fearlessly accepting her challenges—why couldn’t things go back to normal? Being the scary unapproachable student was working out just fine! 

To her surprise, the human actually laughed at her quip and dug in her pockets again to pull out multiple small sheets of paper. She cracked her knuckles and shrugged her jacket off her shoulders, tossing it to a spot on the floor, eyes stilling into something more serious and intimidating. 

“Okay, so we’re doing this,” she smirked. 

Even after all the signs Amelia had given her to leave her alone, Lucía had amazingly managed to ignore every single one. It was so incredibly stupid, but a tickle of excitement sprang in her chest that made Amelia’s heart start to pick up its pace. Her breathing started to shorten with anticipation because she had just figured out something about the new girl, and why she had made it her personal goal in life to annoy the ever living fuck out of her. 

She didn’t just stubbornly fall into conflict by accident. She did it on purpose. She _wanted_ a fight. 

The discovery was simple enough, but to Amelia it was the beginning of an epiphany—an epiphany about herself. 

Because Amelia wanted a fight too. A good, fair, chaotic fight. 

What better outlet could she possibly have asked for? 

Amelia shot a hot burst at Lucía, forcing her to step back away from her. To counter, Lucía threw one of the slips of paper on the floor, causing a thin sheet of ice to appear. The oddly casted spell made Amelia lose her footing, almost causing her to fall. She caught herself just before she completely lost her balance, and paused to glare at her opponent who was already smiling in ear to ear like an asshole. 

Amelia smiled, too. 

“You are _so_ dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mini brain dump:  
> -Ha Amelia is such a NERD! Books? Really?
> 
> -The roll of paper Lucía had in her mouth is up for interpretation. The world is your oyster. 
> 
> -
> 
> Thanks for reading everyone! 
> 
> After writing the og fic I just couldn’t get these two out of my head. While writing about their wholesome love warmed my heart, I think knowing the whole story of all the shit they went through to get to that point makes the original that much more sweet. I’d recommend reading the original first if you haven’t yet but it honestly doesn’t matter. 
> 
> Also everyone give a big thanks to my best friend who helped me come up with the majority of plot. She’s the best. Very cool. 
> 
> Anyway, here you go! I hope you like this one as much as the last one because HELL YEAH enemies to lovers is the best trope ever.
> 
> See ya next week!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About a month after their first encounter. 
> 
> Another fight ensues.

Interesting: definitely an understatement for the new arrangement Lucía had gotten herself into. 

Their fights continued after that first encounter almost like another required class tacked onto the end of their school day. It was an unintended consequence of her own (admittedly shameless) provocation of the girl who _obviously_ shouldn’t be provoked, but it was funny and she didn’t want her thinking she could do whatever she wanted to whoever she wanted without getting a reaction. Lucía wasn’t just going to take it. She was gonna fight back. Hard. 

So, that’s how it went for the next month of school. They’d have some classes together, glaring at each other throughout. They’d see each other in the hallways and always take the opportunity to try and trip the other or make them late to class. They’d even resort to childish comebacks, sticking tongues out and flipping the other off when the teacher turned around. It was all part of the ongoing war the two had declared and they treated it as such. 

The battle, however, was one that caused more trouble than maybe it was worth. They’d get into heated arguments at the end of the week like clockwork as a result of all the anger they built in one another through the week. The resentment would brew and brew, and finally blow up—spitting at each other in the middle of class and throwing school supplies left and right. Incidents like these landed them right back where they started—detention—and since neither of them could stand to sit in that room under the insufferable watch of an adult, they always managed to find new and creative ways to make an escape to their secret room. 

And then they’d fight. For real. 

The more heated they were, the more injuries resulted from their epic duels of magic and wit. They weren’t bad enough to need medical attention, simply walking it off would due, but they did seem to grow in numbers as time passed on. Lucía couldn’t even count all the curious comments she would get from Eda and Luz about the bruises and scratches that plagued her face and arms after a long day at school. 

“Hey, kid, where the hell do you keep getting all those bruises and burns from? You in some fight club I don’t know about?” Eda asked her once when they were alone in the kitchen. 

“Oh, um…” she started, trying to think of a suitable response her mentor would accept. 

As much of a dickhead princess bitch-face was, Lucía couldn’t bring herself to snitch on their little...ritual. Sure, she’d complain and sometimes Amelia’s punches hurt more than she was willing to let on, but the thing was that she didn’t want it to stop. Besides it just being something to do, their fights had a pretty remarkable unintended side effect. 

Lucía was getting _better_ at magic. Like _  
a lot_ better. 

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Here, let me help with that potion,” she decided on since there wasn’t really anything Eda wouldn’t see through. 

She was right, of course, and didn’t miss how Eda stopped her brewing to raise an eyebrow at her. Just as expected, she clearly didn’t believe her. 

“Well, in case it isn’t nothing, which I’m _sure_ it is,” she started while putting more ingredients in her cauldron, “The key to any good fight is getting into your opponents head. Anticipate their moves, distract them, catch them off guard. It’ll keep you from getting so banged up, but like you said, it’s nothing, so what do I know?” 

Lucía nodded and noted the not-so-subtle advice from her concerned teacher. She knew she was just looking out for her, but she really didn’t want Eda to know the details. For now, it was fine for her to wonder about why Lucía’s performance in school began to dramatically improve and why she seemed to be learning more spells without the help of Eda or her sister. 

Exactly like normal school back home, Lucía hadn’t been putting much effort in her studies on the Isles either. Old habits die hard, so she still hated reading and homework of any kind. She’d normally be able to get by with her natural knack for picking up magic, but that only got her so far. But once her and Amelia started having these fights, Lucía realized that she wanted to _win_. She wanted to beat Amelia every single time they fought, so whenever she’d lose a particularly difficult fight, she’d go home and practice with Eda and Luz. Noting how much her opponent loved to read, Lucía even took to reading a couple chapters of books on magic from the library. 

Every bit of work she put into coming up with new strategies and more creative ways to utilize the few glyphs she knew, got thrown right back in her face with a matching force by Amelia’s own effort in improvement.

Lucía noticed how as she grew stronger, so did Amelia, and it frustrated both of them to no end because that just meant they each had to try harder. Lucía’s normally below average grades, started to climb to actually being considered good, and Amelia’s grades went from good, to nearing claiming her previous place as top student of her class—a position she had long abandoned years ago. 

So basically, the gist of all these weeks was that Lucía liked fighting and she liked getting better. If she observed correctly, so did Amelia. 

“You got detention this week, princess?” Lucía asked her once during a class change following lunch. She was leaning an elbow against the lockers watching Amelia put some books back in her own. 

The witch rolled eyes at the unnecessary nickname and once she closed her locker, she brought her full attention to the girl next to her. Instead of her usual glare, she smirked amusedly at Lucía. They had been doing that more often lately. A slightly less serious tone to their interactions. A bark without quite as vicious of bite. 

“If I’m a princess what does that make you? A dirty peasant?” She challenged instead of answering her question. 

Lucía leaned her body off the lockers and took a slight step towards Amelia. 

“A dirty peasant that can kick your ass,” she corrected, returning the smirk the Blight was still sporting proudly. 

The response made Amelia scoff and let out a mocking laugh, “We’ll see about that. I skipped abomination class so I got detention Friday. You better be there.”

From that angle, Lucía had a clear view of her eyes. They had been this close before but something about the laughing and joking made her pay extra special attention. In all the variety of human eye color there really was no other color quite like hers. It wasn’t a light brown, or glowing green, it was gold no doubt about it. With all the hostility they normally adopted when talking to each other in the first few weeks of their quarrels, Lucía had never really noticed how unique her eyes were. She wondered if that’s why they felt so intense or if it was just the jet black eyeliner that always lined them. Whatever the case may be, Lucía could feel a growing excitement in her chest at the promise for another sparring session. 

“Oh I’ll be there alright,” she winked, “I hope you’ve been practicing ‘cause I may have a few tricks up my sleeve.” 

It was true. Lucía had been planning different strategies to use against her wild opponent, however, said opponent did not seem to be intimidated by the statement. She narrowed her eyes boredly at her, but they widened slightly at a spot on Lucía’s face. Surprisingly, the corners of her mouth started to strain upwards like she was trying to hold back a genuine smile or laugh. 

“Well if the tricks are as mediocre as your table manners, I doubt I have much to worry about.” 

She raised her hand to Lucía’s chin and began rubbing vigorously at a specific spot with her thumb. The unexpected action made the human jerk back defensively but before she could escape fully, Amelia grabbed her shirt with her other hand to hold her in place. 

“Honestly, who raised you? You eat like a fucking slob. Disgusting,” she muttered while roughly wiping off whatever food had been on Lucía’s face from lunch just a few minutes before. Her eyebrows were angled in annoyance, but it still looked like she was biting back a smile. 

“Okay, hey! Stop it!” Lucía grabbed Amelia’s probing hand firmly and frowned, “You’re such a creep. Who are you? My mom?” 

The comparison made Amelia scoff loudly and rip her arm from Lucía’s grip. She clenched her fists like she was thinking about punching her right there in the middle of the crowded hallway, but eventually her body relaxed and she let out a sigh. 

“You know what? You’re not even worth it. We’ll see what happens Friday, human,” she said with her normal confident indifference. 

Not even giving Lucía a chance to respond, she turned around curtly and began walking to her next class. 

Yes, they’d settle this on Friday. Just like they always did. 

“Fine by me. Seeya later, mom!” She teased loudly after her. It was loud enough that some of their fellow classmates turned their heads and quietly laughed at the way Amelia flipped Lucía off without bothering to look back. 

So the fighting was switching its energy slightly. It was getting more competitive, instead of blind hatred and blood lust. It was a game with an underlying mutual understanding of each other. Like a sort-of friendship or maybe more like an anti-friendship. The mean things they’d say to each other started to hold less and less malice in them, and it became understood that the fighting outside of detention was just all part of the game, too. 

Who was the strongest today? Who could come up with the cleverest trick? How fast could they escape detention without getting caught? 

It turned out pretty damn fast, because this particular time it took them less than the first five minutes of their unbearably boring sentence. 

“Good afternoon, Ms. Noceda. I see we get to spend the afternoon together _again_ ,” patronized the usual teacher that was in charge of detention, “But where’s your friend? Usually it’s the two of you.” 

“I dunno. She’s not my friend,” Lucía grumbled while sliding down further down in her seat. The teacher was right, though. Where the fuck was Amelia? They had both gotten detention this time for starting an impromptu food fight in the cafeteria. 

What? Amelia totally started it. 

When Lucía was going to disappointedly try to figure out what on earth she was going to do if Amelia didn’t show up, the door to the classroom swung open. It was a different teacher, Lucía somewhat recognized her from an oracle course, and her sudden presence surprised their usual procter. 

“Sorry to intrude, but Principal Bump has requested I watch over the detention kids today. You can leave early,” she stated poignantly, plopping her handful of paper on the teacher’s desk. 

“I was not notified. The Principal told you this?” she questioned skeptically. 

“I mean if you want to ask him yourself you can, but he doesn’t seem in the best mood right now. The Inspector is still out of commission after the human incident,” she retorted back. 

The usual teacher glanced at Lucía with her eyes narrowed. 

“The other human,” the oracle teacher added. 

That seemed to finally sway the teacher because she gathered her things and sighed in exhaustion. 

“Fine, knock yourself out. I don’t get paid enough for this,” she complained as she walked out the door.

The entire interaction confused Lucía. 

Teachers were so weird. 

When it was just the new teacher and Lucía, her demeanor seemed to change completely. She looked over at Lucía and smirked, before walking up to the board and drawing that familiar square she had seen Amelia draw so many times. 

Wait, Amelia? 

“What are you waiting for, loser? Your ass isn’t going to kick itself,” she gleamed, drawing a magic circle that morphed her figure from the strict, responsible teacher, to the crazy, irresponsible Amelia Blight. 

Ha! Lucía should have known. 

“No fucking way!” She marveled excitedly, running up towards the Blight at the front of the room, “Where did you learn that? Do it again! I wanna try!” 

Unfortunately, for Lucía, it didn’t seem like Amelia had any interest fulfilling her fake duty as a fake educator, because she just scoffed and shoved Lucía through the magical door, hopping gracefully through right after her. 

“Nice try. But you’re just gonna have to figure that one out on your own time. You ready?” she asked her while Lucía mumbled insults at her as she picked herself up from the ground. Unlike their first few fights, they started to wait until the other one was ready. Getting a jump start on the other just started to feel cheap, and this was a game after all. There were rules now. 

“I’m always ready,” Lucía smiled, “Are you planning on actually trying this time? Because last week was too easy. I almost fell asleep.” 

To drill in the dig, Lucía exaggerated a yawn and stretched her arms above her head. 

SWOOSH

A familiar flame blazed right above her head, purposely missing her. 

“I was going easy on you. But if you really want a fight, I’ll keep you awake,” she said with a cocky smirk. 

It must have been Lucía’s lucky day. Looked like she was getting some entertainment for detention after all and looks like today's scuffle was going to be _extra_ fun. Amelia wasn’t the only one with a few new tricks to show off. It turned out there was some use in reading and paying a little more attention in class. It actually taught her a thing or two. 

Who knew? 

Instead of responding with retort of her own, Lucía sprinted towards the other girl, grabbing a handful of glyphs from her jacket pocket. Now was not the time to waste on pleasantries. They had a fight to get on to.

Amelia widened her stance and put her fists up, ready for whatever Lucía had cooked up for this time, but Lucía ran straight past her—only briefly brushing her side. 

The witch turned around to Lucía who had already made it to the other side of the room, obviously confused. Lucía, on the other hand, was tossing a small pebble in her hand that she had snatched from outside before school started. 

“Is that all you got, Nocdea? You’re just gonna run away?” she taunted. 

Choosing not to respond verbally again, Lucía just smiled, tracing her eyes down Amelia’s body to her torso. The glance did not go unnoticed by her opponent, taking a moment to look down to see what had caught the human’s attention. 

As soon as she saw what Lucía was being so smug about, she lifted her head up, eyes wide. 

“Are you kidding me—” but it was too late to protest because Lucía had wound up her arm and lightly threw the pebble to the mass collection of light glyphs she had stuck onto her body when she passed by her earlier. 

With the simple tap of the rock, Amelia’s chest exploded into a beam of light, effectively disorienting her. 

Man, Eda’s advice was badass. 

“Fuck! I can’t see anything!” 

Ignoring her string of curses, Lucía ran back around and started scattering plant glyphs all around Amelia while she waved her hands to get the light out of her face. It was hilarious and well worth the extra planning that went into this fight. 

Lucía retreated outside of the trap she left, and waited for it to do its magic. Amelia stumbled backwards, inching closer and closer to the circle of glyphs, until she finally stepped square on top of one. Lucía could barely contain her laughter when a vine shot up from the ground, grabbing a hold of her foot, causing her to fall. When she fell, she obviously landed on even more glyphs—entangling her entire body in winding vines and pretty flowers. 

“Well, look at this,” Lucía bragged as she knelt down to look at the witch in the eyes, “Another win for me.”

Amelia looked absolutely furious. 

“If you want, I could give you a few pointers since you already learn so much from me. It looks like you could use some tips right about now,” Lucía continued, sitting down in front of her captive with her legs crossed casually. 

As sour as that insult was, it didn’t make the other student more angry. In fact, it did the exact opposite. Her scowl flipped into a wide grin, and the expression made Lucía nervous. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, brushing the green hair that had fallen on her face away from her eyes so she could get a better look. 

“Like what?” Amelia tilted her head innocently before suddenly poofing out of existence. 

Lucía’s jaw dropped, and she looked through the vines that were left on the floor for any sign of the witch. 

“What the fuck?!” 

Really? Could Lucía get one easy, clean cut win? One of them always had to pull some dumb shit. What the hell did Amelia do this time? 

As if to answer her internal list of questions and complaints, all around her, Lucía heard cackles of laughter—laughter that all sounded like one person: Amelia. 

She stood up and looked around to identify what the actual fuck was going on, and, with quite a bit of shock, realized she was surrounded by at least fifteen clones of green hair and stompy boots. They were all laughing in unison at Lucía’s reaction, and they all looked exactly the same. She must have switched herself with a clone in the commotion of getting attacked with light glyphs. 

“Mother fucker…” Lucía exhaled. She was so fucked. This was some Naruto shit. Lucía should have been paying more attention. 

“Maybe we could teach you a few things,” one of the Amelia’s teased from one side of the room. 

“If you ever need extra help after class just let us know. We’d be happy to lend a hand,” another one called from the opposing side. 

“Why don’t we teach her a lesson right now? What do you say, ladies?” a final one added. 

All together, the mob nodded their heads and raised their arms to start drawing circles. They all had the same murderous smile, robotically scaring the shit out of the unsuspecting Lucía. 

Oh yeah, she was absolutely fucked. Why did she think this was a good idea again? 

With fire, ice, and god knows what else’s raining down on her, she ran as fast as she could, trying her best to dodge the attacks that were coming from all sides. She yelped in pain when one of them managed to slightly singe her leg, but when she swung a firm punch to her jaw, she just poofed away just like the other one did.

How was she supposed to stand any chance of winning when she literally didn’t know where her actual enemy was??? The fact that Amelia was strong enough to conjure this many clones at all was just _not fair_. 

She swung and kicked her way passed as many as she could, each one disappearing without a trace, as she made her way to the corner of the room. There were still five or six left, walking slowly up to her to finish her off.

“Woah...hey Amelia, come on...let’s—uh let’s talk about this!” 

Resorting to bargaining was a little pathetic, but with the power Amelia had just displayed, Lucía didn’t really have much of an option if she wanted to return home in one piece. 

The Amelias apparently weren’t interested in talking because they all went back to shooting fire at her again. In response, Lucía quickly threw a bunch of ice glyphs on the floor in front of her. Pillars of ice all arose simultaneously, creating a decently sized barrier between her and the oncoming bursts of pink fire. 

“Aha! Take that!” Lucía celebrated. Hey, maybe she still had a chance! Maybe she could—

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when a different Amelia came out of nowhere. She grasped her jacket and thrusted her into the wall behind her with such a force that it knocked the wind straight out of Lucía. The human let out an ‘ow’ and the line of clones from behind the ice all disappeared, leaving only the Amelia pinning her to the wall. 

It was the real one that was in front of Lucía this time around, and she was looking at her with the smuggest smile she had ever seen. Lucía defiantly had to hand it to her, that was pretty fucking cool. 

“Listen here, Noceda,” she breathed, her previous amusement not evident anymore in her tone, “I don’t need you to get stronger. If anything, you need me.” 

She was _very_ close to Lucía’s face. 

The serious way she said that made her wonder if Amelia was genuinely offended by her comment earlier—implying that she relied on Lucía to improve. At the time, she hadn’t really meant it in that way since a part of her knew that Amelia _was_ in part responsible for Lucía’s progress, but now, she realized that Amelia didn’t see it the same. 

Because if they were learning from each other that implied dependency, and she couldn’t have that. 

With her being pinned to the wall and all, Lucía’s mind raced with possible solutions to somehow come out on top after all of this. She had used all of her glyphs, and it was hopeless to try and wrestle free from the Blight’s surprisingly strong grip. To most people, it seemed like this battle was finished. Amelia had won. End of story. But Lucía didn’t want to accept that, especially after Amelia’s comment. 

She didn’t need the other witch either. She had plenty of other people in her life that were helping her improve. Hell, she had the baddest witch on the entire Isles as her teacher for god’s sake! 

_“Anticipate their moves, distract them, catch them off guard.”_

Her mentor’s advice suddenly rang in her head. 

It was a little late to anticipate anything anymore, and without any glyphs, she didn’t have any hope of coming up with a diversion on the spot. 

That only left the last one: catch her off guard. 

This tactic was a tricky one. Amelia’s guard was always up. That’s what made her so intimidating in the halls of Hexide and that’s exactly what made her such a tough opponent. While Lucía brought out the side of her that wasn’t so stone-faced and brutal, she always had a way of keeping her bases covered—doing her best to make the possibility of anyone surprising her a whomping zero. 

Lucía scanned the girl’s face for a tell. Her eyes were hardened over, waiting for Lucía to concede defeat. 

Huh. 

She was really close. Wasn’t she? 

Her idea was certainly not one that Eda had in mind, but Lucía was nothing if not impulsive. When it came to Amelia, her unpredictability was her greatest strength, and she needed to use that strength to its fullest extent. 

So she did the unexpected. 

Lunging forward with no warning, Lucía planted a big, fat kiss on her rival’s face. She pulled away instantly, and caught a glimpse of Amelia’s wide eyes before taking advantage of her shock and flipping them over, so Lucía was the one who had Amelia against the wall. She grabbed her wrists and pinned them at the sides of her head, effectively leaving her helpless and confined. 

When reality seemed to finally catch up to the golden-eyed witch, her face turned as red as Lucía’s maroon Chuck Taylor’s. The sight was extremely off putting, since normally she was so confident and cool, but it was also hilarious to get that reaction out of Amelia. Priceless! 

“I don’t need you either, _Blight_.” 

For a brief moment, Amelia held Lucía’s gazed, completely stunned and clearly embarrassed. It was the most defeated Lucía had ever seen her, but, much like she did previously, Amelia’s expression changed. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pressed together in a thin line. 

Then the _actual_ unexpected happened. 

Amelia jerked forward and kissed Lucía. This time around, her lips parted and it lasted a second or two longer than the first one. When she pulled away, her smirk was back, and she only had a light shimmer of pink dusting her cheeks.

As for Lucía, she could feel her face practically light on fire. 

Wow, that backfired so incredibly badly. 

Amelia laughed at her, “Two can play it that game. If you wanted to kiss me so bad you could’ve just asked.” 

Lucía didn’t know what to do. That was _so embarrassing_. Amelia was still looking at her like this situation was the funniest joke ever and it made Lucía mad. How did she let this happen? 

“What’s wrong? Didn’t think that far ahead,” Amelia taunted, looking up at her through long, dark lashes that somehow made those eyes even brighter than normal. It made her heart start to pick up its pace, her ears red with shame. 

Like a tin man in rain, Lucía could feel a dreaded uncomfortableness start to seep in between all her rusty joints, making them squeaky and stiff. The confidence she’d always faine was dissolving through her fingertips, and she felt the panic start to sink in at the thought.

After all these encounters, they had both been able to relatively keep their cool. The charisma, the insults, the boasting...they were all part of a carefully crafted set of standards they held themselves and each other to. It was how they projected themselves to the rest of the world when really they both had a kind of understanding of the insincerity behind it. All of those traits _were_ them, but it was also an elaborate lie or clever hoax. If it were true then they wouldn’t have continued fighting and Lucía wouldn’t feel so sick right now. 

Because Lucía could feel herself breaking the code and because rage was not the same thing as indifference. Rage implied she _cared_. And she did. She cared _so much_ she wanted to scream at the sky. That’s not how she was supposed to be. 

Once you cared you lost. 

Amelia had turned Lucía’s entire plan against her—made her look a fool—and it was working, too. She was _winning_. Lucía couldn’t let that _happen. She just couldn’t._

__Fuck. ____

___“Shut up,” Lucía released her wrists, grabbing her face instead and just started to go for it because maybe if she did it again, this time it would fix itself and she’d be winning again. Maybe it would get rid of that awful feeling at the pit of her stomach and edge of her heart._ _ _

___What she didn’t think would happen was Amelia kissing her back. Apparently she wasn’t kidding. She wasn’t giving up either. She also had a point to prove it seemed._ _ _

___Amelia’s hands traveled slowly, but surely, up her back until it reached Lucía’s head. At first, she pushed her beanie off and ran her fingers in her hair, but she must’ve had a change of heart because she grabbed a fist full of Lucía’s dark curls and gave it a painful tug._ _ _

___Lucía groaned in the kiss ‘cause holy FUCK that hurt and to let her know just how much she didn’t appreciate that, she nipped her bottom lip hard enough to be painful. Evidently, Amelia didn’t like that either, because she made a similar noise and smacked the side of Lucía’s head._ _ _

___It was a fight just like any other. Just a competition to see who was really the best. In the grand scheme of things, this probably wasn’t the healthiest outlet ever, but it was a hell of a lot better than getting fire thrown at your ass every week. At least this way, Lucía wouldn’t be quite as battered, even if they were somehow still bickering in this unplanned make out session._ _ _

___Amelia pulled away after a while to catch her breath, “You’re a terrible kisser,” and just like that she was kissing Lucía again before the latter even had a chance to be offended at the insult._ _ _

___Her comment, though, broke her out of whatever trance Lucía had been under. How long had it been? Ten—fifteen minutes? That was not the plan. Wait, what was the plan? Did she even have a plan? Why were they still kissing?! Oh my fucking god— they were _still kissing_._ _ _

___The more seconds that past, the more aware Lucía was of the situation and the person trapped between herself and the wall. Lucía could feel her black painted nails grip at her back to pull her closer, she could feel how labored her breathing was getting, she could even feel how the violence had subtly started to wane._ _ _

___But above all Lucía could sense something fueling all of these observations:_ _ _

___Eagerness._ _ _

___Amelia could say whatever she wanted to but Lucía was starting to suspect a weakness. Whether her vulnerability was purely physical or something else entirely was beyond Lucía, but the knowledge of a potential exploitation sang in her thoughts too loudly to be ignored._ _ _

___She had to do something soon. She still hadn’t won yet, technically. There was no way she was going to let Amelia have the last word in this, so Lucía thought of a little experiment. A backup, _backup_ plan. _ _ _

___Lucía pulled away from the kiss and studied the green haired girl’s face. Her cheeks were red, and she was out of breath, but she didn’t have the same look as she did before. She didn’t look like she was mad, but she also didn’t have a telling smirk or something snarky to say. It was odd and it momentarily paused Lucía’s intentions. She wasn’t used to seeing Amelia like this...so weirdly exposed—exposed in a different way than if Lucía managed to get a good hit on her in their normal fights—this type of openness felt more fragile and new._ _ _

___Reflecting over all of those thoughts, Lucía’s hand, on its own accord, gently brushed a strand of hair behind her pointed ear. At this point, Amelia was standing as still as a statue, eyes completely fixed on Lucía’s own. The only response the witch gave was a barely noticeable squeeze to her back._ _ _

___It all felt so strange._ _ _

___Lucía leaned into Amelia, her lips hung slightly open, just an inch away from the other girl’s. Their noses were brushing up against each other, their hot breath mingled in the space between them, and Lucía could see Amelia’s eyes staring directly at her lips, making quick glances back up at her eyes occasionally. It was mesmerizing but also distracting. The moment seemed to stretch off into eternity, Lucía patiently waiting for the Blight to slip up and prove her right already, until it finally happened. If it hadn’t been for their close proximity and the human’s tactful attention to detail, she barely would’ve noticed._ _ _

___Amelia’s head moved forward ever so slightly in a shy attempt to resume what they were doing before, like she was asking permission but secretly hoping for a ‘yes’. It was so timid and reluctant Lucía almost rethought what she was about to do, but in the end there was only one word in her head._ _ _

____Bingo_._ _ _

___Just before Amelia’s lips were able to press back against her own, Lucía pulled away and summoned a chuckle from the back of her throat.  
Then, before she could really take in the mortified look on the other’s face, she moved in close to Amelia’s left ear and whispered, _ _ _

___“Guess I’m not such a bad kisser after all.”_ _ _

___And with that, Lucía released Amelia from her position against the wall, lazily picked up her beanie, and walked through the door that was right beside them that whole time. It took her to a random hallway in the school by some lockers, and she supposed Luz was probably wondering where she must be since that fight had taken...longer than normal._ _ _

___Call it cruel, but it worked._ _ _

___She won._ _ _

___So why did that rusting feeling only seem to get worse?_ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed that chapter! 
> 
> Brain dump:
> 
> -Lucía said MUAH for the lolz
> 
> -Kissing someone in the middle of a fight isn't a cheap move but starting a fight when the other person isn’t ready...THATS crossing the line 
> 
> -ngl I’m missing my milfs in this prequel so you know I had to get Eda in here
> 
> -Amelia is so cool in my head guys like 9 times/10 she gives zero fucks love her
> 
> -lmfao literally never pull this shit Lucía pulled this is a such a dickhead move like wtf I felt so bad for Amelia writing this. If this ever happened to me I’d want to die
> 
> -can you guys tell who I relate to more I’m curious 
> 
> ———
> 
> Man that was so hard to write. I literally spent the entire week changing and adding to it because I wasn’t really satisfied but I think I fixed it in the end. Sorry btw for the weird upload time. I’m writing a paper about how racist America is and how literally everything is capitalism’s fault so yeah there’s that. 
> 
> Thanks for reading again! Expect another update next Monday (probably)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia doesn’t feel too okay about what happened. Duh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My bad for the wait. My teachers hate me.

Humiliation. 

It was probably one of the worst feelings anyone could feel, a feeling often forgotten by most. 

Guilt, sadness, shame. They’re all terrible in their own right but humiliation is different. It’s worse. 

With guilt and shame, those are mostly your own doing. You did something wrong. You fucked up. You’re to blame. 

Sadness can be all encompassing. It can morph into something akin to depression in the worst of circumstances, but sadness can be healed with love and mended by the steady hands of time. 

Humiliation is someone taking something from you. It’s stripping you bare in front of the world only to point and laugh. It’s robbing you of your autonomy over your own privacy. It’s stealing your ego, your self esteem, your confidence. 

Embarrassment? No. Embarrassment is when you stumble up the stairs at school or accidentally call your teacher ‘mom’. Humiliation is deeper and darker. It’s ugly and messy and mixed up with all sorts of other emotions like anger and sadness. It eats you up because sometimes what was taken from you was all you had left. Sometimes it’s taken from someone who you thought you could trust. Someone who you started to view as a friend. 

Humiliation is a betrayal. A nasty, painful betrayal. 

Standing there, in the wake of all the events prior—the fighting, the name calling, the kissing—Amelia had never felt quite as captivated by a single moment. It was as if her mind went on autopilot and decided to act how it pleased. There was no thinking, only feeling. It was a rush she had never felt before. It was different from the expected rush of a fight or familiar itch of frustration. This type of rush clouded her judgement and made her forget everything that kept her sane and grounded. 

The first time Lucía had kissed her, she was appalled. Who did she think she was? She couldn’t get away with that. It was an easy counterattack to wipe that stupid grin off her face and kiss her back. And it did. Lucía looked shocked and more defeated than Amelia had ever seen the normally over-boastful human. It was delightful. It was hilarious. But she kissed her again. 

She kissed her again. 

The action was unfathomable. Amelia had kissed her. The situation was resolved evenly and fairly, but Lucía kissed her _again_. And Titan, what a kiss. 

She could feel the sensible part of her screaming in the back of her mind, “Push her away! Slap her! Use your magic!” Her hands gripped Lucía tighter, then loosened indecisively. She was at odds with two parts of herself. A paradoxical calamity that made remembering to breathe difficult. 

For all the good the normal Amelia had done for her all these years, a new Amelia had taken the wheel and driven straight off a bridge. 

This new side of her hand urged her to abandon all the hard work she had put into the building of her reputation. It stroked her cheek and whispered convincingly, “This isn’t so bad, is it? Why stop now?” The rhetoric the mysterious person used was dripping with emotion and feeling. It appealed to the side of Amelia that was slightly more emotional, the one not as cool and collected. 

And it definitely made some strong points because the longer the kiss lasted, the more Amelia didn’t want it to end. 

Her anger was an afterthought when Lucía’s coarse hands cupped her cheeks and pulled her closer. Any semblance of logic left in Amelia was twisted and sewn into a tangled mess of nothing. She had no idea what exactly was making her react in such an uncharacteristic way, but she didn’t really have the sense to delve too deeply into it. All she knew was that it was fun. It was...nice. 

And then it happened. 

Lucía pulled away. 

Played with her hair. 

She pressed her body onto hers. 

Amelia could feel something wrong. She could pick up the secret signs of deceit, she always could. But that was the normal Amelia. Right then, the new Amelia was in charge, and all she wanted in the whole world was for Lucía to just stop acting like an idiot and just go back to kissing her. Surely, that’s what Lucía wanted too. She was the one who had kissed her. 

So she ignored the warning churning in her stomach. She decided to trust the shortness in her breath and the person standing in front of her. 

She took a chance. She leaned in. 

Humiliation. It was worse than any feeling Amelia had ever experienced. 

Often the five stages of grief are discussed in matters concerning loss and tragedy. It’s a helpful tool, easy to apply and observe.

Have you ever wondered why other emotions don’t have similar patterns? Widely known, predictable blueprints? 

Well, not all emotions are as complicated. For Amelia, humiliation began and ended with one emotion:

Rage. 

She was furious when Lucía smirked and left as if nothing happened. Like what she did wasn’t completely absurd and _way_ outside the silent rules the two had come up with all those weeks of fighting. It made Amelia feel weak, a feeling she had never been accustomed to. She was the eldest sister. She was the tough one. She was the problem child. But just a month with that stupid girl had threatened to dismantle all of that. 

Didn’t she realize she was tearing down years of work Amelia had put in to make it so everyone would stop bothering her? The last thing she wanted was a cluster fuck of disingenuous clicks and insufferable gossip. Would she go as far as to go blabbing on about what happened to the rest of the school? Would she misconstrue the truth to make it seem like—like she had started it or Titan forbid—had _enjoyed_ it. 

And she didn’t—not in any real sense! Objectively, kissing is a fun activity. It would have clouded anyone’s judgement! Why should she be held under the unforgiving scrutiny of her peers because some dimwit with nice (plainly average*) hair decided to be a little shit and fucking kiss her. It was the other girl's depravity, not her own. And it wasn’t even that Amelia was above slick and less than dignified fighting tactics (she most certainly wasn’t), but fuck she had _some standards_. How low does someone have to stoop to do that? 

For a while after the human left, Amelia just slumped on the floor and ran all these thoughts through her head. She held fistfulls of her skirt in her hands, and she was doing all she could to keep herself from tearing it up out of sheer anger. 

A somewhat feeling that faded into another afterthought was an sharp pain in the back of her throat. It felt tight, like a snake was coiling around her neck and constricting her breathing. The same sharp discomfort pulled at other nerves connected to the backs of her eyes and the center of her chest. She couldn’t quite manage to pinpoint exactly the sickness that had overcome her nor did she think to question herself on the cause, but she did manage to swallow the feeling down and stand up. 

She had school again in a few days and she _wasn’t_ allowing Lucía to get away with this. 

Over her dead fucking body.

* * *

So it was Monday morning, and Amelia was out for blood. 

It was already halfway through the day and she still didn’t have a clue of how exactly she was going to get Noceda back for what she did. She realized she didn’t know her as well as she thought she did because she truly did not know of a single weakness she could exploit. 

Sure, she had lists of lists of weak points in Lucía’s fighting strategies after weeks of methodical observation, but those were only on the surface. They were superficial. Other than the fact that she was a human who was living at the Owl Shack with her sister, Amelia really didn’t know Lucía at all. Or so she concluded after hours of brooding about how little progress she was making on her master plan. 

“Hey, Blight, pass me the blue stuff.” 

Her eyebrows hung over her eyes, clearly focused on the potion they were learning in class. For the past two or so weeks, they had been getting along-ish in the classes they shared, like this one. They’d bicker and glare, but for the most part they worked pretty well together. 

Well, today was as good as any other to break that streak. 

“Get it yourself,” Amelia huffed without even looking her way. 

The fact that Lucía was acting as if nothing happened only fueled the flame that burned hot at the bottom of her stomach. As if the entire situation was completely usual for them! As if it hadn’t...hadn’t messed with Amelia in a really unfair way! 

She heard the other witch grumble something under her breath and reach over to get said vile herself. Instead of helping or insisting on doing everything herself, Amelia comfortably sunk back into her old habit of swiping through her scroll during class. She had no interest in interacting with her right now. 

Unfortunately for her, it only took a few minutes before Lucía was bothering her with something else. 

“Dammit, I did something wrong. Can you read to see if I missed an ingredient?” she asked, nudging Amelia’s arm to get her attention. 

Titan, Lucía could sneeze and Amelia would be mad. 

“You have eyes. Don’t you?” she snapped back, repeating the words Lucía had said to her but a month ago. Her eyes were still glued to her screen. 

This time instead of a sarcastic quip, Lucía was silent for a beat. Out of her periferal, Amelia could see confused, brown eyes scanning the side of her face. If the Blight didn’t know better, she’d almost be tempted to describe the emotion as concern. It was the most serious she had seen her since they’d met, but the moment didn’t last for long. 

“Can we just do the project? We’re almost done,” she said with a stern tone. She was annoyed. 

For the first time since the class started, Amelia turned her head to make direct eye contact with the girl next to her. She made sure to keep her emotions under control. Her face was almost expressionless, save for the hint of animosity in her eyes. It was a warning. 

“I’m not touching that potion. Figure it out.”

Lucía’s face started to morph into genuine shock. Amelia knew the way she said it left no room for playfulness or teasing. She was dead serious, and Lucía knew it. 

If she were honest, Amelia was expecting the human to do what she does best and impulsively string together an incoherent mess of insults, but she didn’t. That serious look on her face flashed again, and a small frown appeared at the corner of her lips. She looked like she had something to say, probably something important, but in the end she just sighed and went back to tinkering with the potion. 

“Okay,” a small whisper was all that Amelia caught in her ear before going back to staring at her phone. Hopefully a revenge plan would come to her soon because she could barely bring herself to look at the culprit. Every time she did, that fire only burned hotter, and every time she looked at her with that stupid serious look she felt that terrible tightening in her throat. What the fuck even was this month? She much preferred the mundane days where all she felt was boredom, rebellion, and resentment toward her parents. 

When the bell screeched, Amelia picked up her things and exited the room as quickly as she could, leaving Lucía by herself to clean up. Being in such close proximity to her was suffocating. She hated it. She needed to get away before she actually blew up. 

“Wait! Stop! Hey—wait up!” 

Amelia felt a firm hand grab her shoulder to stop her from scurrying away to her next class. It stopped her dead in her tracks. Of course she knew who it was. What an idiot. She must not have stayed to clean after all. Amelia should’ve known better. 

When Amelia forced herself to turn around, she saw Lucía releasing puffs of breath from sprinting to catch up to her. They were stopped by a row of lockers and the halls were busy with other students all around them. 

“Man, you’re fast. I just—”

“—Get off me!” Amelia yelled as she shrugged her shoulder hard enough that Lucía’s hand fell off of it. Thankfully, the noise of the hallway all but swallowed the exclamation whole.

Again, Lucía stared at her with shock. Her hand just hung awkwardly in the air before slowly retreating back to her side. She looked nervous, and confused, like she couldn’t quite wrap her head around the situation. 

Amelia couldn’t help her reaction. She knew she had resolved to not reveal her hand, but the exasperation just tumbled out of her mouth on its own. She didn’t know her head could get so out of hand. 

“Sorry...um I just wanted to…” her normal confidence was gone as she stared at her shoes and her voice wavered. She looked back up at Amelia, and right before her mouth opened to speak she stopped herself. Her lips pressed together in a thin line like she was mulling over her next words carefully. 

“...I just mean, did you get detention yet for Friday? I just got one for being late to school today,” she settled with. 

It was the wrong word to settle on because it was like lighting a match next to a puddle of gasoline. Amelia felt the fire in her stomach burst—flowing her bloodstream with deadly magma. Her head felt like it was filled was steam, distorting her vision until all she could see were outlines and shadows. 

How could she seriously be asking her about _detention_ right now?! Did she forget so easily? Was she that cruel? That cowardly? Amelia deserved more respect than that! She didn’t deserve this bullshit! 

Abruptly, Amelia threw her hands on Lucía’s school uniform and slammed her into the lockers behind them. It made a loud thud that caused a few students to turn their heads. That was probably the hardest Amelia had ever pinned Lucía and the human most _definitely_ noticed. 

Her eyebrows lifted to touch the sky and her mouth did the thing where it hung just slightly open. She didn’t say anything, just stood there speechless, waiting for Amelia to explain herself, but Amelia didn’t know what she wanted to say. She didn’t even know she was going to do this in the first place. All she knew was that the boiling in her veins hadn’t gone away. It was only getting worse by the minute. 

“We’re in the middle of the hallway,” Lucía reminded gently, trying her best to diffuse the situation, while her eyes glanced over Amelia’s shoulders to look at the eyes watching them. 

But Amelia didn’t care. There was a ringing in her ears and she still couldn’t _speak_. Her mind was loud and her mouth couldn’t open. 

“Amelia...let’s just go somewhere else,” her hands had slowly traveled up to grab Amelia’s wrists. 

Her hands only added to the overwhelming heat Amelia felt in her body, but it also made the weird throat feeling come back. Her airway was closing up again, the pain behind her eyes, everything was being amplified into something even worse. It just made her so _mad_. 

The proximity, the positioning, she knew this scenario all too well. It was just like what happened last time, except Amelia was the one in control and there was no way in hell Lucía was getting the upper hand this time. Actually, Lucía truly didn’t look like she was up for a fight this time, but the edge of worry in her eyes did little to quell the rage in her chest. Whether she was worried for herself or for Amelia was besides the point. 

Because what went on in the room came rushing back to her again. 

_Humiliated._

Maybe it was time for Lucía to get a taste of her own medicine. 

With lighting speed, Amelia pushed herself up on her toes and pressed her lips against Lucía’s right there, in the middle of the school hallway, in front of dozens of other students. She pressed herself into her, similarly to what she had done to her. Amelia was trapping her, making her feel just as powerless as she had felt. And this time it was all the more sweet because now there was an audience. 

Wonderful. 

But unlike the previous altercation, Lucía didn’t furiously kiss her back, in fact she hadn’t moved a single muscle. Before Amelia pulled away like she intended to do shortly after her initiation, she noticed an anomaly in the human’s normally cocky and proud body language. Although Amelia was pushing the other’s body into the lockers, she could feel that Lucía was doing just as much effort. Lucía was stepping back as far as she possibly could, like she thought she could eventually pass through solid walls. Instead of pushing her away or kissing her back, her lips were sealed shut in a tight line, and when Amelia finally pulled away, she realized the girl’s eyes had been wide open the entire time. 

Behind them there were some gasps, some clicks of cameras, even a few childish whistles, but Amelia paid them little mind. This time Lucía was the prey, not her. 

“What’s the matter? You didn’t seem to mind that the other day,” Amelia said loudly with a sly smirk on her face. 

_Checkmate._

Lucía’s eyes were still wide, and she was still pressing herself to the back of the lockers even though Amelia had stepped back after the kiss. Her jaw opened to say something but her eyes stared passed Amelia’s shoulders instead. They darted back and forth nervously, then landed back on Amelia’s. The emotion that those brown eyes held looked so unfamiliar, so wrong, that Amelia almost didn’t catch it in time. 

Fear. Lucía looked _terrified._

And just when she came to that conclusion, Lucía shoved herself past her and ran away down the hallway, disappearing past the crowds of people who had stopped to gawk at them. She left Amelia standing by herself, in shock, by the lockers they were just pressed up against. 

The human’s reaction shouldn’t matter. Amelia had succeeded. They were even now. They could go back to fighting like normal. 

Her blood had cooled down from their previous boiling state, but the cool down was extreme. She felt ice cold. It wasn’t a feeling she was used to. Anger was the only emotion that came to her, but this feeling was different, and it didn’t make any sense. She got exactly what she wanted. Lucía even ran away like a coward! But that damn throat of hers kept squeezing shut and the pain behind her eyes only became more acute. It was an awful feeling. 

In her thoughts, as the bell screamed again to let her know she was late to class, Amelia started to piece some things together while she stood in the now empty hall. If she _really_ thought about it, she knew exactly what was wrong and exactly what war was going on in her head. 

The feeling of humiliation had sparked a ferocious fit of rage, yes, but she was wrong about it being the sole emotion in the equation. 

Her throat, her eyes, her chest—they had all been shyly pulling the hem of her skirt to get her attention all this time. If it weren’t for the impossible to ignore anger she felt, she might have identified the other, scarier, emotion that had been lying just beneath the surface all this time. 

The real emotion that was eating her alive since Lucía had left that room:

Hurt. 

Lucía had fucking _hurt_ her. 

She had looked her in the eyes, and exploited the one thing she had been trying to ignore for the past couple weeks. Watching the way Lucía’s eyes shifted from surprise to fear, had suddenly made Amelia painfully aware of the reason all this bullshit was happening to her in the first place. Why she had been feeling so off lately, so unlike herself. 

She didn’t hate Lucía, not really. 

She liked her. A lot.

Too much. 

Right on que, her throat started to constrict again, making Amelia lightly grab her neck with her hand. Her fingertips were frigid, but she could feel small beads of sweat accumulating on the hills of goosebumps that grazed her pale skin. 

Titan. 

What was she going to do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brian dump:
> 
> -hey guys I think Amelia might be mad idk tho 
> 
> -Why did Lucía react like that? She’s straight idk dude ig you have to read the next chapter
> 
> -suddenly Lucía’s ineptitude with potions is starting to make sense
> 
> -Amelia says no to group projects. That shit is the worst. 
> 
> -Ah yes, the classic “mother fucker...” moment when you realize you have a crush on the absolute worst person to have a crush on 
> 
> -trying to write a lot of Amelia POV cause I naturally like Lucía’s POV cause I relate to her a lot lmfao. Gotta force myself to branch out cause god wow feelings...feelings 
> 
> -
> 
> Thanks for reading! Like always, I hope you enjoyed! Your comments are so funny lmfao it makes me excited to write more. Trust me I got plenty of jokes lined up in the mist of all this angsty teenage mess. 
> 
> Sorry again for the wait. This chapter was hard to write and school is the worst omfg. Hopefully the next chapter will be done within a week but I have finals coming up so idk bro. But don’t worry! Any wait time won’t be crazy. I really try to be relatively consistent. 
> 
> Well that’s all for this time! See you soon!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia wants to talk to Lucía.   
> Lucía doesn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmfao here’s 7k+ worth of food. Cool is my middle name. You are so welcome. 
> 
> TW: minor reference that homophobia exists and it sucks ass :/

Evidently, the altercation didn’t make Amelia feel great. 

Actually, she felt like shit. 

The week had moved on from that day like it inevitably would do, and throughout that week Amelia barely caught a glimpse of the girl that had caused her so much emotional torment. She still went to school, that much Amelia was sure of, but it appeared that Lucía was doing everything to avoid her, even going as far as making an excuse to miss out on their potions class together. It only made the soreness of her throat and that unfamiliar strain of her heart grow worse and worse. In a desperate attempt at seeing her, begging her to just say _anything_ to her, Amelia even talked rudely back to a teacher to get her stuck in Friday detention again. 

To her disappointment, the human was nowhere to be found. 

The silence was killing her. She hated it. She always thought the toughest and most uncomfortable feeling would be the unbearable act of pouring out your true thoughts and emotions out to someone, but she was starting to wonder if a cut off of all communication was worse. The yelling, teasing, banter all came naturally to her—naturally to both of them she thought it was safe to say—so realizing that she might not ever hear an overly confident voice call to her, “Seeya, Blight!” was unexpectedly unbearable. 

It was all around frustrating. She tried to tell herself she was being ridiculous. After all, it was the human’s fault. It was her fault for starting this. She was the one that had hurt her feelings first. She was the one that had pretended that nothing had happened. She was the one that was so funny and charming that she just _had_ to go and make Amelia develop those wretched feelings—feelings she had no business having for someone that would mock their very existence if ever given the chance, and rightly so. They were painfully embarrassing. 

But she wasn’t very convincing. She was self aware to know that much. 

Instead of the scorn and betrayal she had felt for Lucía before, she started to feel miserably guilty and hopelessly anxious. What was she thinking? That was taking things way too far! She didn’t even give the poor girl a chance to protest before throwing herself on her in front of _everyone_. And the look on her face after...she looked horrified. Was Amelia that appalling? Was she that scary? She had successfully managed to strike fear in the hearts of all the students at Hexide who dared tried to antagonize her, but Lucía was the first one to not be compelled away. She was the first one to accept her challenge and treat her like a normal fucking person. She was never afraid of her, not even in their most reckless fights. What did that say about Amelia if she managed to make the most fearless person she knew on the Isles retreat with terror? Did that make her something different entirely? Something undeserving of anyone’s attention or kindness?

The memory of the events made her cringe in the dim light of her bedroom. She was looking out her window in the forlorn expression all these thoughts were digging up in her. More than anything, she wanted Lucía to talk to her, even if it was just to be angry with her. She wanted to make amends and forget everything that they had done to each other—for what she had done to Lucía. But in her remorse, she still felt wounded and exposed. What if she let her guilt swallow her whole all the while Lucía was completely indifferent to the damage she had done? 

She had hurt her too, but what if she knew that and simply didn’t care? 

Everything was a jumbled mess of drama and questions that Amelia wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to, and all of it started and ended with her and that fucking human. Titan, she was always so decisive and reasonable, where did that all go? She didn’t want to end up dejected and callous just like her mother or as devoid as her apathetic and passive father. Her greatest fear, though she would never admit to having any fears at all, was ending up like them. That would be rock bottom. _That_ would be like dying to her. Even in the self loathing state she was in she couldn’t bring herself to believe that a life like theirs was inevitable for her, because if it was what was the point in trying to fix this anyway? She liked Lucía enough that she wanted her forgiveness. She would at least have to try to preserve the closest thing she had ever gotten to a friend.

At the sound of a timid knocking of her door, Amelia turned her head from the window. Her family usually knew better than to bother her if she secluded herself to her room, so she was curious who had risked one of her impatient outbursts to speak to her. 

“Come in,” she invited. All the anger had been sucked out of her while lamenting about the predicament she’d gotten herself into. 

The door creaked as the small figure opened it slowly and peaked her head out before speaking. 

“Sorry, I know you want to be alone, but...um well I just wanted to ask you something,” Amity told her before she even stepped fully into her room. Her face was slightly red, and it seemed like it had taken a lot out of her to come to Amelia. It wasn't entirely out of the norm for Amity to want Amelia’s input on certain topics, but Amelia couldn’t help but being slightly annoyed at the younger sister’s tendency to skirt around the point, however, she recognizes she looked up to her for some reason so she probably should be a decent sister. 

“Yeah, why not,” Amelia waved for Amity to come closer and walked over to sit in the middle of her bed. Amity nodded, closing the door respectfully behind her, and obeyed when Amelia tapped the spot next to her for Amity to sit. 

“So, what’s going on?” Amelia asked. For the sake of whatever was making Amity turn as red as those strange shoes Lucía always wore. Fuck, she has to stop thinking about her. 

Amity looked like she was struggling to put her thoughts into words. She was obviously uncomfortable, but Amelia was growing impatient so when she raised her eyebrows at her for her to just spit it out already, she finally spoke. 

“Yeah, um, so...you see...I have this friend and she needs some advice. I didn’t really know what to tell her but I thought maybe you would?” 

Amelia surpassed a laugh that threatened to leap out of her throat. Okay, maybe this conversation was going to be more fun than she thought. It at least was taking her mind off the alternative. 

“So this...friend...what’s their problem,” Amelia asked even if it was obvious there was no friend. Amity hated all her friends, Amelia knew better. 

Her sister’s eyes were glued to her fidgeting hands, “She likes someone...and she wants to ask them to Grom but she doesn’t know how.” 

“Grom?” Amelia repeated with surprise. Thinking about Amity having a crush was so weird. She’d never talked about liking anyone before, at least not to her. And Grom? Amelia had completely forgotten that was coming up soon. Actually, it might actually be this upcoming weekend. 

Amity only nodded in response. 

There was only so much Amelia could do to help if Amity would only give her silent nods and half-truths. Seriously, she was making this whole big sister thing impossible. 

“Okay well...what’s their crush like?” 

The question made Amity look at Amelia. She looked surprised that she had even asked her that, but the alarm in her face started to wade into something else. Her lips turned up in a fond smile when she looked away to go back to rubbing her fingers lightly over her freshly painted nails. 

“She’s...amazing,” she started with a growing smile she couldn’t seem to help, “She’s a little odd, but she’s so nice and optimistic.”

The truthfulness in her voice made that same tightening in Amelia’s throat come back. She envied the ease at which she was able to say something so raw and vulnerable. It shook Amelia to her core when she realized Amity wasn’t finished and kept adding on to the lists of admiration.

“...And she’s sweet and brave. She even swore to be my—I mean _her_ —fearless champion. She said she would fight Grometheus for her.” 

Amelia could practically see the hearts in her eyes. The crush was so pure, so innocent, it touched her. It really did. She wanted that for herself too. She wanted to care for someone without the pain. Without the drama would be the minimum. 

“Grometheus, you say?” she nudged Amity’s side to get her mind out of the clouds, “That’s pretty impressive.” 

“Yeah…” Amity sighed as she looked off into nothingness with a dreamy expression on her face. 

Man, she had it bad. It was true that the conversation was starting to make all of Amelia’s sadness and troubles resurface to the forefront of her mind, but she really wanted to help her out. She looked at her sister’s dyed hair as she thought of what advice to give her. As much as she would want to believe Amity had dyed it to mimic her own unruly hair, she knew their mother had been forcing her to do it for Titan knows how long. It was a shame. Her natural hair was similar to Amelia's natural hair. Their mother had made Amelia dye her hair green too but that was the only rule she didn’t mind. It suited her. But Amity? She was more sensitive than Amelia had ever been. Green was not her. 

“I think she seems like a cool person,” Amelia said thoughtfully which made Amity turn to watch her, “And it seems like she likes your _friend_.” 

The emphasis on the last word made Amity’s face heat up again. Amelia couldn’t help but to tease a little. 

“So, honestly, Mittens, I don’t think they have anything to worry about. I say they should be themselves. Don’t do something super flashy ‘cause that’s lame and it makes them feel like they have to say yes. Just tell her to ask her when they’re hanging out or something.” 

At the advice, Amity’s ears perked up with panic and she objected nervously, “Ask them? Like...verbally…” 

Amity’s reaction made Amelia laugh. Wow, she __really__ needed help. 

“Yeah! What else are they gonna do? Stare at them till they get the memo?” she asked with amusement. But Amity’s blush only grew and she shrugged at the rhetorical question. 

Amelia sighed seriously and put a hand on her shoulder. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to trust Amity to be able to get a single coherent word out to this girl judging by how this conversation had been going. 

“Okay, if they’re not up to talking, just write a note. It’s simple, classy, and that way there’s no chance of messing up or misinterpretation. It’s perfect!”

That was some pretty good advice if Amelia said so herself, and it looked like Amity agreed because her eyes lit up and she smiled hopefully. 

“That’s a great idea! I’ll...go tell them!” she hopped up off the bed and made her way to the door to leave. Before she could though, Amelia coughed loudly to get her to stop. Once she did Amelia smirked and looked over towards her closet. 

“You know, I’m pretty sure I still have some old dresses that are baby-sized,” Amity rolled her eyes at that comment, “So you can snoop around in there for your ‘friend’ if you want.” 

It was almost too good when Amity’s smile grew even wider with excitement when she eagerly asked “Really?!” and Amelia chuckled and gave her the go ahead. They never had moments like this with each other, but Amelia had to admit it was nice. 

“And it _is_ just for a friend of mine!” Her sister yelled over her shoulder as she rummaged through Amelia’s wardrobe. 

“Sure it is,” she replied sarcastically as she took out her phone to see if Lucía had called or texted her. She hadn’t. 

The older witch let herself fall backwards on her bed and stare up at the ceiling, listening to Amity’s rambling about the dresses she was trying on. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t the older sister so she could ask one of her own for advice on her own troubles. Perhaps there was a quick and easy fix that she just couldn’t see because of her lack of experience or perspective. Being a teenager was hard enough without having anyone to look up to and ask for help. Granted, she never really needed help until now. 

“How about this one? Is it too much?” Amity asked while she looked herself up and down in the mirror. 

Amelia lazily raised her head up just enough to get a glimpse before plopping it right back down, “Yeah. Try something else.” 

Amity groaned with annoyance before resuming her search. 

Maybe Amelia needed to take her own advice, she thought. Not the note giving one, but the talking one. If she just tracked Lucía down and actually talked to her maybe she could smooth this whole thing out and they could at least be cool again. If Lucía stayed mad at her like this forever, Amelia didn’t know if she could handle it. 

“Are you going to Grom this year? Last year you didn’t,” her sister asked curiously. 

She was right, Amelia hadn’t gone last year largely because she thought it was a bore but also because she got banned temporarily after setting Principal Bump’s cloak on fire. This year, she didn’t plan to go at all but the conversation with Amity had her thinking. What if Lucía went to Grom? It was unlikely since she had been avoiding pretty much every school activity lately and it didn’t seem like her scene either but what if she did? 

Amelia couldn’t risk an opportunity to confront her. 

“Yeah, actually. I am.”

* * *

If you’d have told Amelia that she’d be sitting by herself on the bleachers at Grom a month ago, she would have laughed in your face and probably call you a dumb fuck. 

Funny how things turn out. 

She wasn’t really embarrassed, she couldn’t care less about what her classmates thought of her, but she was disappointed. After about an hour of floating around from dancing group to dancing group, she still had seen no sign of Lucía. She had predicted that she wasn’t the type to go out to school dances, but she still had that small flicker of hope in her chest that she had judged wrong. That was a better type of fire than she was used to. It was more tame, at least. 

“Forget this,” she mumbled under her breath before standing up and walking to the exit of the gym. 

As she walked across the dance floor, she caught sight of her other siblings. Ed and Em were sitting together looking bored and grumpy. They must have gotten stood up or something. Amelia wanted to laugh at how funny the spectacle was, but in a weird way she felt like she got stood up too. The person she wanted to see didn’t bother to show up. Just her luck. 

The black, spiked boots she had paired with her maroon dress and leather jacket dragged on the ground as she exited the building. The black corset and fishnet leggings her outfit consisted of did little to keep her warm in the night of the Isles. The cold air stung her face and it made her shiver and pull her jacket more securely around herself. She was just about to conjure a small flame to warm herself up when she caught a whiff of a familiar smell in another frigid breeze. It smelled like smoke, but not the kind of smoke from a spell or a fire. Amelia’s heart started to beat fast with nerves when she remembered where she had smelled the smell before. It was the scent of that stick off paper she’d seen Lucía put in her mouth all those times. 

Lucía was here. 

Following the smell, Amelia rounded the corner of the building and there she was. Lucía was leaning with her back against the wall taking a long drag of her cigarette (she thought she had heard her call it that before). It was hard to tell since it was so dark outside but Amelia was just able to make out the deep blue of her suit that contrasted the stark black of her button down. She looked disinterested and had a cold expression on her face as she watched another cloud of smoke puff out of her lips. The sight made Amelia more anxious, but that feeling in her throat was paired with a different, breathless feeling. Lucía cleaned up nice. 

“You came?” Amelia called out to the figure shadowed in darkness. She did her best to mask the relief in her voice. 

At the sound of her voice, Lucía’s head immediately turned to look at her. As expected, she looked startled at first. Once she got over the initial surprise, she still didn’t speak right away. Her eyes were locked on Amelia’s golden ones and she looked like she was debating her next course of action carefully. She didn’t look frightened or outwardly angry, but Amelia could sense how different the energy was between them.

Lucía silently took the cigarette she had between her fingers and put it out against the wall behind her and flicked it to the ground. She put her hands in her pocket and turned to face Amelia, shifting to lean the side of her body on the building instead. 

“Luz wanted me to go. So here I am,” she answered. Her voice was measured and final. 

Amelia hadn’t worked herself up over this moment to be intimidated now. She took a few steps toward her so only a couple feet were left between the two. 

“That’s cool of you.” 

The attempt at breaking the tension didn’t really work. Lucía just shrugged her shoulders and looked away from her, “I guess.” 

Yeah, so this was going less than ideally. She should probably cut the crap. 

“Listen, Lucía, can we just talk?” She took another step toward her. 

Apparently that wasn’t the best move either because it just made the human scoff and roll her eyes, “Yeah? Talk about what, exactly?” 

Of course she was going to make this impossible. Amelia let out a curt laugh in disbelief, “Are you kidding me? I mean all the shit that's happened. What else would I be talking about?” 

She knew she had resolved to be calmer than this, but Lucía's indignant attitude irritated her. Amelia was extending an olive branch and she was being a total bitch about it. Couldn’t they be normal for once and just have a fucking conversation? 

“I’m not really sure,” Lucía pushed off the wall so she was standing at her full height, “You’re not much of a talker are you? Nah, you’d rather yell in the middle of the fucking hallway.” 

Was that why she was so upset with her? That she raised her voice? They had yelled at each other before in public. It didn’t make any sense. 

Amelia crossed her arms defensively, “Well, I’ve been trying to talk to you all week but you’ve been avoiding me!” 

Lucía took a step toward her, entering her personal space. She opened her mouth to retort back at her, but before she could, there was a loud noise and a swell of screaming coming from the front of the gym. They glanced at each other briefly and ran together to see what was happening. To their amazement, they saw the doors slam wide open as a small figure sprinted out of them. 

“Luz?” Amelia said to herself when she recognized the flash of short brown hair. 

Neither of the two had time to question why Luz was running, because right after Luz sprinted by, a huge, black figure emerged. It was chasing after her. 

Grometheus. 

“Luz!” Lucía yelled worriedly as she immediately took off running after them. 

Instinctually, Amelia’s legs started running with her too. Side by side, they ran through the forest, desperately trying to catch up to the sister that was so important to Lucía. She had never seen Lucía this concerned before. Amelia was barely keeping up because of just how fast Lucía’s long legs carried her. After a few minutes, they had lost sight of the monster and the human stopped. 

“Where did they go?! Fuck! Which way!” she was erratically walking in circles and stressfully pulled her hair. If she didn’t calm down, there was no way they were going to find her in time to be any help. Also, she hated seeing Lucía like this. 

Amelia stepped in front of her to stop her from completing another circle and grabbed her shoulders firmly. She made sure Lucía was looking at her. 

“Hey, we’re gonna find her, okay? Let’s try being quiet for a second and listen for them,” she assured her. 

To her surprise, Lucía didn’t angrily shove her away. Her chest was heaving up and down from the running and she looked so worried. She stared into Amelia’s eyes intensely before finally nodding her head and closing her eyes so she could focus on her hearing. Amelia closed her eyes, too, still holding onto her shoulders in an attempt to steady her. 

_“Rwar!” ___

__Their eyes flipped open and they both looked in the same direction._ _

__“Over there!” Lucía yelled, wasting no time in running in the direction of the faint growl of the Grom beast. Once again, Amelia was running right after her._ _

__They ran, and ran, and ran, until the sounds started to grow louder, indicating that the proximity was becoming closer and closer. When they reached a large clearing by the edge of a cliff, it was a relief when they found Luz, but a terror to see that so had Grometheus. It towered over her, and Luz was helpless to defend herself._ _

__“Eda, you were right! I’m not ready!” the younger Noceda called out as the creature was getting ready to strike. To her left Amelia just noticed that the owl lady had gotten there before them._ _

__“That’s okay. I got this one,” Eda said back understandingly, beginning to draw a circle in the air._ _

__“Luz! I’m coming!” Lucía ignored the older witch and started to run to help her sister herself. It was unbelievably stupid._ _

__Amelia grabbed her arm to stop her from diving headfirst into a fight way over her head. Lucía turned back to look at her with pure fury._ _

__“Let go of me!”_ _

__“No! You’re gonna get both of you hurt!”_ _

__Before Lucía had a chance to say something profane back, above their heads they saw a flash of pink and green. The figure landed in front of them and rushed to put themselves between Luz and the monster._ _

__“Stay away from her!” Amity yelled bravely._ _

__Mother fucker. What the actual fuck was going on._ _

__They both silently watched in awe as Grometheus shifted into a small figure and tore up the note Amity had in her pocket. It was more than shocking to watch the kids team up and start dancing of all things to defeat the creature, and even more shocking to see it turn into a flurry of flowers, sprouting a beautiful tree in its place. There was cheering from the crowd of classmates that had caught up to watch, and they lifted the Grom queens in chants of praise and thankfulness. Lucía hadn’t said anything as everything was happening, she had just stood there in Amelia’s grip flicking her eyes back and forth, ready to intervene at any moment. She still looked stressed but once they were left alone at the cliff’s edge, she seemed to at least look relieved that her sister had escaped unscathed, though Amelia was sure she would get a stern talking to for almost scaring Lucía to death._ _

__Eventually, Amelia let her hand fall back to her side and just stood silently alongside the other girl for a while. The entire situation was insane, but it had gotten Amelia thinking—thinking about the conversation she had with Amity just a few days prior._ _

__“Oh,” Amelia sighed as she connected the dots, “Luz was the one who said she’d fight Grom for Amity.”_ _

__“What,” Lucía turned angrily to Amelia, “You knew about this?!”_ _

__She hadn’t expected Lucía to get so upset with her about that._ _

__“Not exactly...Amity mentioned someone taking her place to fight Grometheus but I didn’t know it was—”_ _

__“—What the fuck is wrong with you! How could you not tell me this!”_ _

__You know what, Amelia took it back. This was the maddest she had ever seen Lucía. But the fact she was blaming her for this was ridiculous and she wasn’t having it._ _

__“I didn’t fucking know! And you haven't been talking to me, remember?”_ _

__That only made her more upset. Lucía grabbed her brown hair roughly in frustration, “Then you should’ve tried harder to tell me! Do you realize how much worse this could’ve been? She could’ve gotten hurt!”_ _

__Amelia scoffed, “No. You don’t get to put this shit on me. This isn’t my fault.”_ _

__“Of course it is!” Lucía countered, “You only think about yourself! You never think about the consequences of your actions!”_ _

__Her words made a gash in her chest. Did she really believe that? Amelia could feel her resolve slipping between her fingers. A familiar wave of anger started to fill her system again. She had wanted to apologize for everything that had happened, but this? Lucía was being unfair._ _

__“ _My_ actions. Seriously?” Amelia pointed a finger at her chest, “If anyone’s the problem here it’s you! Who actually lives with Luz? Whose actions does she see everyday? Last time I checked, it isn’t me. No wonder she thought she should fight Grometheus. You’re a _bad_ influence.”_ _

__As the words left her lips, she instantly regretted them. Lucía’s face fell and she actually looked wounded by what she had said. She clenched her fists and just stared at the ground. That wasn’t what Amelia wanted. She was just defending herself. She didn’t mean to guilt her. This wasn’t anyone’s fault._ _

__“Hey...I didn’t mean that,” she said quietly while reaching for Lucía’s hand to comfort her. But when her fingers brushed Lucía’s skin, she yanked her hand away and met her eyes._ _

__“You know what? You talk all this game about how tough and cool you are. You get into all this trouble just to get your parents’ attention, but when are you gonna get it through your head that they don’t fucking care about you!” she spat._ _

__Amelia froze with how personal her words were, and when Lucía took a step forward, Amelia took one back._ _

__“If they actually gave a shit about you don’t you think they would’ve stopped you by now? Don’t you think they’d already have sent you away to some dumb fucking boot camp already?”_ _

__She kept stepping closer and every step she took forced Amelia one back. Her words were cruel and mean and Amelia didn’t really know how to respond to it._ _

__“But here you are! Still here! They gave up on you! You’re a lost cost! They’d rather put all their energy into molding Amity into everything you couldn’t be instead!”_ _

__They were standing in front of the Grom tree that had sprouted from their sisters’ battle. It was a poetic instance of irony, though it wasn’t really funny to Amelia at the moment. She was too focused on the knife Lucía kept digging into her gut._ _

__Lucía took a deep breath since her rant had taken a lot of energy. She looked Amelia up and down, taking in her reaction. Then when she met her eyes again, she glanced away like it stung._ _

__“And I meant that,” she said just loud enough for Amelia to hear before turning away to leave._ _

__It was strange. Normally, Amelia’s knee jerk reaction would be to conjure something equally as hurtful and throw it right back in Lucía’s face, but she didn’t feel that urge this time. She remembered why she wanted desperately to talk to her in the first place. She remembered the incident in the hallway and the fact that only a few minutes ago, she was terrified her sister might get seriously injured. Amelia was hurt, but she reminded herself that so was Lucía._ _

__Again, Amelia grabbed Lucía’s arm to keep her from leaving, “Stop,” when Lucía didn’t instantly explode again she continued, “Let’s just talk about this. Can’t we just talk for a second?”_ _

__This time, Lucía shrugged Amelia’s hand off her, and Amelia let go with no protests. She looked at her carefully before saying frustratedly, “God, Amelia, we just talked. Just leave me alone.”_ _

__She tried to leave again but Amelia stepped in front of her to block her path._ _

__“No. You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to talk to me like that and just walk away,” she said seriously._ _

__It only made Lucía roll her eyes, “Watch me,” she went to pass her again but Amelia just repeated the same action. She wasn’t giving in._ _

__“For fuck’s sakes, Amelia, let me go!”_ _

__“Not until you stop being an asshole and talk to me!”_ _

__“Fuck off!” She shoved Amelia backwards. It surprised the green haired witch, but she recovered quickly and stepped back in front of her._ _

__“Will you just listen to me? You’re acting like a child!” Amelia was getting frustrated too. Her throat was getting tighter, it was getting hard to breath._ _

__“Jesus, why are you so obsessed with getting me to talk? Why can’t you just let it go and let me be?”_ _

__The unexpected question lit something inside of the Blight. She could feel it in her stomach, clawing its way up her throat, knocking on the backs of her teeth. Never in her eighteen years of life had Amelia ever felt as though she needed to do something lest she die, but here in the moonlight, she felt like her heart would burst open in a bloody mess. She felt the sensation so strongly, so vividly, that it manifested in a physical reaction. Like she had done twice before (she really had to stop this habit) she grabbed Lucía and shoved her back against the tree behind them. It wasn’t too hard, but Lucía still looked furious. Amelia didn’t really have the capacity to interpret her expression further because she felt that feeling prying her mouth open, and as it did she realized what had been the agonizing prisoner inside her that had been trying to force its way out all this time._ _

__Honesty._ _

__She wanted to tell the truth. The whole truth. And she wanted Lucía to understand._ _

__“Because I like you, okay?!” The words had escaped her mouth before she had any time to realize exactly what they would be. Because of how close they were now, Amelia just noticed the maroon tie she was wearing. They were matching. What an agonizing coincidence._ _

__Lucía’s eyes widened and her anger instantly disappeared. Amelia could feel her heart stop. What did she just do? She didn’t know if she was ready to hear what Lucía had to say about that, but she knew one thing. She wanted Lucía to believe her, because it was the truth._ _

__That might have been too much of an ask._ _

__“No you don’t,” Lucía whispered finally. It hit Amelia again right where it hurts. She eased up on her hold on the human but she couldn’t bring herself to walk away yet._ _

__“If you liked me...you wouldn’t have done that...you wouldn’t have outed me like that in front of everyone.”_ _

__What?_ _

__Well, Amelia definitely didn’t expect that._ _

__She could feel her face twist in confusion. All the immediate feelings of sorrow and pain left momentarily and were replaced with bewilderment._ _

__“Outed? We were inside?” Her head tilted to the side as her eyebrows furrowed. What was she talking about?_ _

__“What? No—I mean like...you know!” Lucía sputtered, seemingly entirely shocked that Amelia had no idea what she was saying._ _

__When Amelia just stared at her blankly she released an annoyed breath, “You let everyone know I like girls! That’s...that’s really fucked up!”_ _

__Okay, now Amelia was really confused._ _

__“...so?”_ _

__This time Lucía looked more shocked than annoyed. Like when you ask a question in class and you can tell from the teacher’s face that it was a stupid one._ _

__“So, do you realize how much shit I got back home for that? I was in the closet and then someone fucking outed me in middle school! I was already picked on enough but after that...they made my life miserable…”_ _

__It pained her to see how affected Lucía looked at that, but it did little to clarify any of the confusion she had. Like holy shit, Earth sounded awful._ _

__“Humans keep gay people in closets?!” Amelia asked, completely horrified by the implications of that. The Isles was a barbaric place and Belos was a piece of shit asshole but they didn’t do that._ _

__For the first time in two weeks, Amelia’s ears were filled with the happy sound of Lucía’s laughter. She could feel her body shaking underneath her, and even though she wasn’t sure what was so funny, it made her lips turn upwards in a shy smile._ _

__“No! It’s metaphorical! Ha—sorry,” she was struggling to string a sentence together through her laughing, “I just didn’t realize—is that not a thing here?”_ _

__Amelia shook her head, “No...I’ve never heard of that. People don’t make fun because of it. I’m not sure why they would.”_ _

__Lucía’s face softened at that. Like she was taking it in. Amelia still didn’t completely understand all of it, but she felt terrible that Lucía had been ridiculed for it and even worse that she had brought up a memory that seemed like it was painful for her._ _

__“Are you okay?” Amelia tried asking when Lucía still hadn’t spoken. Her eyes broke out of her thoughtful daze and she gave Amelia her attention again._ _

__“Um, yeah...I’m good. Sorry, I uh...I thought...I thought it was the same here.”_ _

__It felt good to have some of the air cleared. As long as they were talking candidly, Amelia decided it was time to offer an apology of her own._ _

__“No, I’m sorry. Sometimes I let my emotions get the better of me and I lose control. I shouldn’t have done that to you. I was just angry and hurt—ugh I was being so stupid.”_ _

__“Hurt?” Lucía looked at her with those brown eyes, but now they were confused and concerned._ _

__Her hands had come up to grab Amelia’s wrists just like she had done in the hall a few weeks ago. She mentally screamed at herself because fuck she did it _again_. Way to go Amelia, you just apologized for doing this and here you are doing it again. She let go of the hold she had on Lucía’s suit and slipped her wrists out of her hands. _ _

__She hadn’t expected that they were going to talk about the detention incident. Well, she secretly wanted an explanation (and an apology) but that would also require her to continue to be honest and let her know what she _did_ wound her and it did make her feel bad. _ _

__Amelia took a shaky breath in and tried to look anywhere but her crush’s eyes, “I mean...yeah? Back there in detention...It really um, bothered me.”_ _

__Her hands were folded into balls at her sides, physically reminding herself not to resort back into her old habits. She felt her throat closing up like it always did in matters concerning the idiot girl in front of her. Even though they were doing the mature thing and actually talking to each other, part of her was still scared Lucía would laugh at her. Maybe that would be worse than a rejection, but she was more worried about getting her forgiveness than that anyway._ _

__Warm hands curling around the outsides of her fists was what brought Amelia’s eyes upward, finally daring themselves to stare into the brown eyes that she had hurt and that had hurt her. All traces of her resentment and amusement were gone and she looked astoundingly remorseful._ _

__“I’m sorry Ames. I let the competition get to me, and I was a dickhead. You didn’t deserve it and I’m sorry it took this long for me to tell you that.”_ _

__Oh wow. It was so genuine, so soft, that it felt like her words had reached into her mouth and pried open the walls of her throat herself, letting in much needed oxygen back into her system. It’s silly to think of how much Amelia had been killing herself with guilt about what happened when she forgot that she was in pain, too. She needed to hear those words and much as she needed to say them herself._ _

__“And I lied earlier...I didn’t mean those things I said about you. You’re the toughest person I know and your parents are blind if they can’t see that,” she added when Amelia hadn’t responded right away._ _

__She knew she hadn’t meant it, but it was good to hear her take those jabs back too._ _

__“It’s okay,” she gave a small smile to let her know she was serious. Lucía gave her face a sweeping look, like she was checking to make sure she actually believed that. When she appeared satisfied she nodded and smiled back._ _

__They stood silently for a few moments until Lucía chuckled randomly._ _

__“What is it?” Amelia asked, genuinely curious._ _

__Lucía laughed to herself again, “It’s nothing. It’s just…”_ _

__“Just what?” Titan, this girl was going to be the death of her._ _

__The human laughed again, but this time Amelia noticed that her cheeks were slightly pink. Her eyes were scanning somewhere on the ground, but eventually they moved back up to her own. The look in her eyes took Amelia’s breath away all over again._ _

__“It’s just...I think part of me kissed you thinking that would be our new normal.”_ _

__Amelia’s face flushed red. Was that her reciprocating? Lucía was still giving her that same look and oh, she was still holding her balled up fists. Such a short time ago they were yelling at each other at the top of their lungs, but now they were being so open and tender. They were such fools. They should have just been honest from the start._ _

__“Really?” she asked quietly because she truly had no other words to say to that. Instead, she opened her fists so she could hold Lucía’s hands properly in her own. If she wasn’t so nervous, maybe she would have slipped her fingers between hers._ _

__“Yeah,” she said in a tired exhale. The humor in the air had dissipated into something else entirely. It wasn’t awkward or thoughtful, it was just...comfortable, like they had said all that needed to be said. Like they had written a book and that was their final word. _Fin.__ _

__Lucía started to slide down against the tree, and while she did Amelia released her hands so she could take a spot right next to her. They were shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh, resting their backs against the tree’s tough bark. Their legs were stretched out and the tips of the shoes were holding the other one up. It was quiet, so quiet their breathing was just loud enough to be heard, and the two just accepted the silence for what it was. It was time for them to process all that had just happened and how it made each of them feel._ _

__Eventually, Amelia looked over at her crush to see if she could decipher any of her emotions, but Lucía noticed immediately and turned her head too. Their faces were so close—close enough for Amelia to just reach out and meet her lips with her own. In that moment, after their sweet exchange of apologies and clumsy confessions, that’s all she wanted to do. She wanted to kiss her in a new context—a right context. Everything was perfect. The mood, the lighting, the setting...even their outfits were fit to make this the most romantic moment Amelia had ever had in her life._ _

__It _was_ perfect, but there was something holding her back. They had apologized, they had given eachother their forgiveness, but it didn’t erase the trust they had broken. Not yet. Amelia wanted to prove to her that she would never do something like that again, and she still needed time for her own pain to subside. They had taken things so fast—skipped so many steps—it gave her whiplash and it made her want to try something different. She _really_ liked her, and that’s why she wasn’t going to reach forward and break the rules like she always did. _ _

__They needed to do this the right way._ _

__So, Amelia gave her a smile and reached over to give her hand a light squeeze before standing up. Lucía followed suit and the pair stared thoughtfully at each other again. Amelia was the first to speak._ _

__“I better get home. I should make sure Mittens is okay after that stunt,” she said to try and lighten the atmosphere._ _

__Lucía laughed at that, “Yeah, I gotta talk to Luz about not fighting giant fear beasts without permission.”_ _

__They laughed together at that, and when they stopped Amelia realized how close they were again. This whole maturity thing was harder than she thought. Were hugs too much? Hugs were fine, right?_ _

__Slowly, in case it turned out Lucía didn’t want that, Amelia lifted her arms and wrapped them around the taller one’s waist. When she felt Lucía start to pull her in, she let her head rest on her shoulder and took in the moment while it lasted. It almost hurt how much she was smiling._ _

__“See you at school?” she asked hopefully. It felt like forever since they had seen each other there._ _

__Lucía pulled away enough so she could look at Amelia. Their warm breaths against each other were the only thing keeping their noses from turning red from the cold. Even in their closeness, Amelia had a sense that Lucía realized why she hadn’t crossed that boundary again. Maybe Lucía also wanted to take it slower, because she kept her gaze steadily on her eyes, not letting them slip to her lips once. Instead, she gave her a reassuring smile._ _

__“Yeah, seeya there, Blight.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brian Dump:
> 
> -for the Grom fits look at @rhobuh’s (ig) marriage au of them cause that’s what they’re wearing in this. Not to brag or anything but they’re my friend and they’re art is REALLY good so if you haven’t, go check them out and follow them 
> 
> -so many feeling oh my god idk how I do this 
> 
> -ik a lot of people make Amelia a lot meaner to Amity but I don’t fucking care. I think Amelia tries her best :,)
> 
> -cigarettes are bad so don’t do that no matter how hot/cool Lucía might seem when she does it 
> 
> -say it with me kids: communication is important holy fucking shit pls 
> 
> -because I hold nothing but love in my heart for you, you got 1 milf appearance 
> 
> —
> 
> HA god that chapter wrote itself I have no regrets man oh man. I felt bad for not writing as much as I normally do for the last one so I went full send on this one so hope you liked it. Also I am an absolute god for getting this done right before my exams wow I’m so cool. I have break soon so I’ll update within a weekish again. Feel free to leave your thoughts cause I spent a lot of time on this one and I think I really like how it turned out but yeah let me know. 
> 
> (Might link my soft beta lumity playlist cause it’s 100% accurate ofc on next post)
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you all get homoerotically slammed into a wall by a hot woman/person one day :)


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